Malaysia from a distance: ruminations about the homeland in blogs/blooks

Abstract

Migration from the homeland to other host countries is certainly not a new phenomenon. The Malays, for example, have been known for their seafaring spirit, journeying beyond the comfort of home to become citizens of lands far removed from the one they were born and brought up in. Their physical detachment, however, is illusory. Many of them who have a penchant for writing have shown that they have not been able to sever the link from their motherland. In the words of Awang Goneng, a Malaysian residing in the United Kingdom, "he is feeling a crick in the neck from constantly looking back." With the advent of blogs, and more recently, blooks (printed books that contain or are based on content from blogs), narratives about the homeland have grown in number. This paper provides an insight into blogs and a blook that centre on Malaysia, focusing on the images of home and the emotions that accompany this recollection. Writing about Malaysia from a distance, their works raise issues about the voluntary or involuntary migration of individuals or groups of people, the maintenance or re-creation of identification with the home country, and the existence of a community of people that still claim their attachment to a place they have left behind.